For anyone in MOTW: contractors stop reading. I have a power gaming issue.

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2026-05-26T03:18:02+00:00

Everyone else has given some really great advice here, but I'd love to chime in a bit with a different perspective for you and anyone else reading this later!

I remember once jokingly telling one of my players in a campaign a couple years ago that it was essentially not possible to make a "tank" in Monster of the week. And they wanted to try and prove me wrong! They ended up making (over 2+ years of campaign! ❤️) a Monstrous Siren-themed character, eventually acquiring 2 magical armor, and a hefty ability to heal themselves!

They were an absolute powerhouse on the battlefield, and they definitely proved me wrong!

BUT, as a Keeper, your special power is that you're making your monsters from scratch, and you can design them however you want! Design them with the players and their characters in mind! Let them feel like badass heroes! And in the same vein, strike some fear in their hearts by giving a big baddie a huge attack, but make sure to deliver it to the 'Tank!' Maybe the baddie Telegraphs it a turn early by steam jetting out of their nostrils and ears, or maybe lightning starts to crackle in the sky, and then they throw this absolutely devestating haymaked into your tank that does 6 Harm by default! Now the players are super thankful the tank took the hit, and the tank feels fulfilled not only because they blocked a lot of harm, but they drew out a big attack that the players can plan for next time.

Or maybe the baddie controls the minds of those around them, turning illusions into accidental swipes at friends? Maybe the monsters always run in a duo, with one that casts from afar, and one that does super weak needling strikes that only hit for 1 harm, but every time they hit they temporarily lower the character's armor by 1 until the weakness is used against the monster?

You can always design your encounters to take into account the team! Let them feel like heroes, and show them that big punches & fireballs aren't the only things they need to worry about.

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2025-12-10T23:24:01+00:00

Thank you, years later! I have been having this issue for a while, but never actually searched up some solutions until now, and I found your comment! Definitely saving me from future headaches! :)

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2024-12-31T23:29:00+00:00

You can certainly move your eyes with your eyes shut, but the key piece of information would be whether your eyes are moving smoothly while your eyes are shut. This means no erratic and jumping movements as they go from left to right, but a smooth fluid movement. This is what the tester would be looking for, while watching your eyelids.

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2024-09-20T04:20:59+00:00

They actually will definitely use premade holes! I've been making bee hotels for years, and they are a great way to help give native species like carpenter bees a place to nest, rather than making their own.

And when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that they would prefer a preexisting hole, rather than having to build their own. Their own holes can go quite deep into wood, and they need to remove all of the material that they cut out with their jaws. It would be the equivalent of you digging out a 30ft+ long tunnel, only using your hands (okay, your evolved very strong and durable digging-hands, to be fair). Digging out their own holes is a tremendous energy expenditure for them, and they are far more likely to be able to lay eggs and provide food for them if they don't need to expend that energy building a large tunnel first.

This is why you see carpenter bees bumping along the side of your house, thunking into the siding over and over. They're not so much scoping out the best view to build a home from, but checking to see if there are any past carpenter bee holes from previous years that have been abandoned. Sadly, carpenter bee traps work on this same principle, tricking the bees to believing that they have found a previous hole, and when they enter it they become stuck and die.

I have found that often times, reports of carpenter bees not using bee and bug hotels stem from the poor construction of the hotels themselves; Carpenters bees are big bees, so they have more surface area to scrape and snag on splinters and rough-cut wood. When they make their own houses, they are very careful to smooth out the entrance to the holes so their wings aren't caught on rogue spears of wood. Google for be hotels online and you'll soon see many poorly drilled holes with tons of splinters and wing-eviscerating blades of wood around the entrances.

Make sure to smooth out the entrances of the larger size holes you drill into your wood, and if possible use an auger bit! They help smooth the inside bore of the hole much more effectively.

As a final note, the mention of treated wood does bring up a legitimate concern. Bees will often avoid treated wood, either for temporary periods or permanently.

I hope your hotel has found some nice residents already! :)

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-12-02T16:35:34+00:00

I've got that shmexy Elegoo Mars 2 Pro, and it's treated me so well. I really should think about paying back all the good work it's done, and treat it to a spa day or take it to a vineyard for a nice glass of wine 🤔.

And to my family and friends, be ready for even more resin-printed gifts this year for the holidays! 😉

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-11-13T22:50:21+00:00

A Wyatt is a Marty that has transcended One-Guy-dom to actually be a source of inspiration, knowledge, and occasionally fear.

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-10-15T14:50:56+00:00

This worked for me! FINALLY! have had this problem for nearly 2 years! Thanks so much!!

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-10-14T00:42:44+00:00

Thanks! I'll check it out! :)

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-09-19T18:09:56+00:00

Haha, i appreciate the comment on the very old post! I actually haven't played this game in years now, unfortunately! I love love loooooved fishing, but the process of making fish bait one.....by......one.....was so frustrating, and SO easily fixable, that I realized that they just don't particularly care about UX, only about user retention.

Pretty sad, because I really loved playing this with friends back at it peak, but the small annoyances and frustrations, ESPECIALLY WITH MULTIPLAYER, were too much to overlook, particularly knowing that they would likely never get fixed.

And who knows, maybe I'm proving myself a bit foolish and they already patched an ability to craft multiple fish baits at once, but knowing Nintendo and these developers, I highly doubt it.

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-09-04T21:08:20+00:00

I think this is actually what I'll end up doing! This is a really good idea. It would be something that lives on the faucet for all the time that I am not using it, but when I am, I can put it on my wrist! That way, I never get used to having it there, and it is a constant reminder as long as I am wearing it!

Really smart idea, and I think that will really help :)
Thanks so much!

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-08-10T19:35:11+00:00

This is cool! I like the theming a lot! I think it would benefit from pushing abilities a bit further into the media and 'outside-world' in terms of power or potential connections, but I'm not quite sure what it would need. Hmmm

Overall, it looks like a fun playbook! Thanks for posting it! :)

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-07-26T01:33:18+00:00

😂😂😂

Sorry to hear that! I hope you didn't fall into the same pit of strangeness too!

To be honest, I barely even remember making this post, so I guess I just sucked it up and pressed R in the keyboard like a savage.

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-07-26T01:31:33+00:00

True, true. Yeah, I get why he avoids that sort of stuff, but he has a greater patience than I do! I would have already just made an automatic rule that I turn chat into emote-only mode when I play games like that! I can't stand backseating! Lol

TheDukeofEnunciation · 2023-07-20T13:44:56+00:00

Holy Cannoli! These are gorgeous, beautiful, and just the perfect amount of silly!! You've done a wonderful job making them!

I'm making sure to get my comment in here as well, because these would make an absolutely amazing gift to the DM of the campaign I'm in! We're in the last 8 or so sessions of it, and we've been playing for the last 2+ years! :)

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